Method and system for processing raw financial data streams to produce and distribute structured and validated product offering objects

ABSTRACT

A real time information manager which processes raw data from data providers, such as feeds of current information about financial product offerings, is provided. Raw data objects received from various data providers are analyzed, formatted, and a current version of each unique data object is stored in an object storage pool. Information about the state of each objects is transmitted on a particular output data channel in accordance with the type of object. A subscriber process can access one or more of the data channels and utilize the broadcast data. In one configuration, one or more client managers are provided which subscribe to particular data channels and serve as an intermediary between the real time information manager and sets of clients.

CROSS-REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATIONS:

This application is a continuation of and claims priority under 35U.S.C. §120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/871,427 entitled“Method and System for Processing Raw Financial Data Streams to Produceand Distribute Structured and Validated Product Offering Objects” filedon May 21, 2001, which in turn claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/223,397 filed on Aug. 4, 2000 and entitled “RealTime Host Infrastructure” and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.60/227,162 filed on Aug. 22, 2000 and entitled “Enhanced InformationDelivery.” The entire contents of these applications are herebyincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a method and system for renderingand shaping an incoming content stream. More particularly, the presentinvention is related to a method and system for processing raw inputdata streams, such as data related to offerings from financialproviders, and producing structured and validated output data which issuitable for distribution to clients.

BACKGROUND

Electronic distribution of financial product information from financialproduct originators to clients is a common service supplied by financialservices providers. Typically, the service provider acts as a conduitfor passing information related to various products between thefinancial content provider and clients. Such information includes newproduct offerings, updates to product attributes, such as a currentprice, and perhaps changes in the manner in which the product isclassified.

It is not uncommon for a service provider to need to process dozens ofdata streams, each of which may be carrying information related to alarge number of products. For example, a single data stream containinginformation about U.S. Treasuries typically contains data events relatedto several hundred different products.

There are various techniques for distributing raw financial servicesdata to the clients. However, present techniques are labor orcomputationally expensive, treating the providers on an ad-hoc basis. Inparticular, in order to receive and process informational content so itcan be distributed to downstream clients, the host needed to behardwired to the specific structure and format of the incoming datastream. As a result, separate systems have developed for processing datafrom different sources. For example, one system may be dedicated toprocessing raw treasuries data and another independent system having itsown structure may be dedicated to processing raw data related tocorporate offerings. While acceptable for some operations, such ad-hoctechniques do not scale well and are difficult to integrate into asingle comprehensive environment.

In addition, while present systems may be suitable for routing data fromits source to various interested clients, conventional clients have beenhard-wired to the host system with high-speed data connections. Theproliferation of portable and wireless computer devices with lowbandwidths and intermittent connectivity, along with the greaterpresence of smaller clients (both professional and individual) increasesthe need to provide a robust and adaptable data stream which is notsusceptible to the inconsistencies inherent in communicating over alarge communications network, such as the Internet.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anintegrated infrastructure product which is designed to process real-timecontent streams from a host system such that it can be distributed toauthorized subscribers.

It is a further object to a system configured to process multiplestreams of raw data in real time and providing a formatted and validatedoutput which is suitable for down stream processing and distribution toclients.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system whichis flexible and easily adapted to permit the management of multiplestreams of data from various sources and allow new streams and producttypes to be easily added or modified.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide validatedand formatted offer data in a format which minimizes the amount of datarequired to transmit the offer to downstream services.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a datadelivery mechanism which dynamically adjusts transmission rates to thespeed at which a client can receive and process data while ensuring thatupdated data received by a client is current.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION(S)

These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the presentmethod and system for processing raw financial data streams to produceand distribute structured and validated product offering objects. Thesystem is comprised of two major structural elements: a real timeinformation manager and a client manager. The information manager isconfigured to process raw data streams from content providers andprovide broadcasts of validated structured objects derived from the rawstreams which represent the current state of the objects insubstantially real-time.

In operation, the information manager receives raw data objects on atleast one raw data stream input. The raw data objects are typed andvalidated and a corresponding formatted data object is generated. Thecurrent state of the object is stored in an object storage pool and alsobroadcast on a particular broadcast data stream, preferably selectedfrom a number of available streams in accordance with the object type.In a preferred implementation, the current state is broadcast indifferential form wherein the unique object at issue is identified andthe changes in the object state relative to a prior state are provided.A preferred format for the storage of object typing and formatting rulesis also disclosed.

The client manager is comprised of one or more object state managerswhich are connected to respective broadcast data streams and configuredto maintain in an object cache the current state of objects as indicatedon the various broadcast streams. Client sessions are provided tomaintain communications with each respective client. When an objectstate manager detects that the state of an object carried on aparticular broadcast data stream has changed, it directs an event to theclient sessions for clients which have subscribed to that stream. Theclient event then evaluates filters and other rules specified in theclient's profile to determine if the state change should be sent to theclient and, if so, to forward the state change information fortransmission to the client.

Preferably, each client has an associated delivery manager whichmaintains a queue of data to be sent to the particular client.Communication metrics, such as network transmission times andperformance of the client's system, are monitored and the rate at whichdata is sent to the client is adjusted accordingly. In addition,aggregation functionality is preferably implemented such that when twoor more state change events for a common data object are queued fortransmission to a client, for example, changes in the price of asecurity, the various changes indicated to the object state areaggregated to produce a single event which includes all of the statechanges which should be transmitted.

Advantageously, the architecture and operation of the present system isrobust and can easily be adapted for a wide variety of systems andscales of operation. The modular nature of the system permits multipleinformation managers to be provided as required to process the variousinput data streams. The typing and formatting rules used by theinformation managers can easily be updated to accommodate new dataproviders and data types. Multiple client session managers can beprovided to ensure sufficient capacity to support a large number ofclients and can connect on demand to broadcast data streams from thevarious information managers. Moreover, the system can be implemented ona variety of platforms and the information managers and client managerscan be local or remotely located relative to each other and tosubscribing clients. In addition, the data output by the informationmanagers is suitable for use by other applications and the clientmanagers can be easily adapted for use with broadcast data streamsprovided by sources other than the information managers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The foregoing and other features of the present invention will be morereadily apparent from the following detailed description and drawings ofillustrative embodiments of the invention in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an integrated system for deliveringreal-time content streams to authorized subscribers and enablingreal-time interactions between the host and subscriber and betweenbusinesses and customers over various networks;

FIG. 2 is a high level diagram illustrating the operating environment ofthe real-time information manager of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a preferred architecture of the real-time informationmanager;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a typing-tree used by the real-timeinformation manager to process data input;

FIG. 5 is block diagram illustrating the scalability of the presentreal-time information architecture;

FIG. 6 shows a preferred architecture of the client manager;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the client manager of FIG. 6supporting multiple client sessions;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a preferred structure of theobject state manager of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the client session and deliverymanager of FIG. 6 and further showing a high-level view of theclient-side system elements; and

FIG. 10 is a high level diagram of the client system architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning to FIG. 1 there is shown a high-level block diagram of anintegrated system 10 for delivering real-time content streams toauthorized subscribers and enabling real-time interactions between thehost and subscriber and between businesses and customers over variousnetworks. In particular, system 10 has a real-time information channel11 which is configured to receive raw data streams 14 from one or morecontent providers 12, process the data streams in real time and thenforward relevant offers and other data via a network 16 to subscribingclients 18.

The real-time information channel 11 is comprised of the real-timeinformation manager 30 and the client manager 32. The real-timeinformation manager 30 is configured to receive incoming streams of rawdata 14, process the data, and then publish structured, validatedcontent objects which can then be used by downstream processes. Theclient manager 32 is responsible for managing client custom profiles andimplementing entitlement policy related to data types and services whichcan be used by the clients. The client manager 32 is also responsiblefor forwarding data to the clients and is preferably configured todynamically adjust to changes in bandwidth and latency, as well asresource utilization on the client device to optimize delivery ofcontent in real time and to maintain the client's connection to the hostsystem. The real time information manager 30 and the client manager 32are discussed in more detail below.

The system 10 can also include an interactive services channel 20 whichfacilitates the bi-directional flow of communications 24, 24′ betweenhost business services 22 and suscribing clients 18. The interactiveservices channel 20 is comprised of a service manager 34 and a servicerouter 36. The service manager 34 is responsible for maintainingcommunication between various business services 22, such as trading,sales, and auctions and separate service managers may be used forvarious services. The service router 36 is configured to cache messagesand track communications between the subscribing clients and businessesand the host system. The service router 36 also interacts with theservice manager 34 which contains functionality to establishpoint-to-point connections between the client and individual businessservices. Network communications between the system 10 and clients 18 ispreferably made using an HTTP tunneling transport system 38 which isconfigured to overcome limitations caused by the transient nature ofHTTP and HTTPS protocols and provide a virtual persistent connectionbetween the host system 10 and subscriber client 18. The tunnelingtransport system 38 is also discussed in more detail below.

System 10 is preferably implemented within the context of one or moreJava Virtual Machines (“VM”) which form a virtual machine layer 40. Overthe VM layer 40 is the tunneling transport system 38 and a processmanagement layer 42. The individual system processes, such as thoseforming the real time information channel 11 and the interactiveservices channel 20 operate in process management layer 42. The processlayer 42 provides the ability to distribute, manage, and controlmultiple processes on the VM layer (which itself may span multiplemachines). Other configurations and implementations are also possible.

Real-Time Information Manager

Turning to FIG. 2, there is shown a high level block diagram of theoperation of the real-time information manager 30. The informationmanager 30 receives one or more raw object data streams 14 from variouscontent providers 12. A variety of content providers can be supportedand the data connection to each supporter can be implemented in avariety of ways known to those of skill in the art.

Preferably, the content providers supply raw data related to financialproduct offerings and such typical providers include treasuries,agencies and corporate entities. The raw object data streams 14 carrydata objects containing information about various products or offerings.Each data object generally also contains a key which permits the objectto be uniquely identified. Data included in a raw data stream can bedifferent for different types of instruments. A treasuries stream, forexample, can include descriptive details, pricing, volume or any otherdata related to government bonds, warrants, securities or otherinstruments that can be traded, sold, swapped or exchanged. Governmentbonds can include domestic, or foreign bonds, such as Japanesegovernment bonds.

Alternative data streams can also be supported. Such streams preferablycontain data objects related to information which can be monitored on acontinuing basis, which is periodically updated, and where some or allof the updates should be communicated to one or more monitoring parties.In one alternative, the data streams include availability of variousnon-financial products or offerings, such as price and quantity ofairline tickets, hotel rooms, and the like, and the processed data canbe distributed to consumers and industry representatives, among others.Other alternative streams include electronic or on-line auctions,spot-market prices for various goods and services, measured status orperformance of various systems. Various further data streams suitablefor processing and distribution in accordance with the present systemwill be recognized by those of skill in the art.

The information manager 30 is configured to process the raw objects datastream and to identify the specific product type for each object.Generally, a rule database 50 is provided which includes object typingdata 52 that defines the unique attributes associated with a givenobject. As an object is received by the information manager 30, thevarious rules are applied to determine the object type and verify theobject, e.g., by making sure that its content complies with predefinedcriteria or limits. There are various techniques which can be used toidentify and verify object types in a data stream which will known tothose of skill in the art. A preferred technique which is well suitedfor processing multiple data streams containing perhaps hundreds ofdifferent objects and permitting easy creation and modification ofobject type signatures is discussed below.

After an object's type is identified and the object is verified, theobject is formatted in accordance with various system requirements. Thestructure of the formatted object and various formatting rules 54 can bestored in the rule database 50. Formatting of a raw data object caninclude many actions, such as removing fields which are unimportant todownstream applications, adding additional data fields, such as theidentified object type, adjusting the manner in which data fields arerepresented, etc.

According to a particular aspect of the invention, after an object isreceived, typed, and formatted appropriately, the formatted object isstored in a structured object pool 56, preferably in sets according tothe object type. The object pool 56 can be considered a “master list” ofthe current state of all objects of each type which are carried by theinput data streams. Objects can be uniquely identified by the keyincluded in the raw data stream and preferably this key is used to storeand access the objects in the pool 56. If a received object is not inthe pool, a new entry is created in and the object is stored. Inaddition, the formatted object data is broadcast on a data stream 58.Preferably, separate data streams are provided for each unique type ofobject. The data streams 58 are received by downstream applications, andin particular, the client manager 32 which stores, processes, andforwards the object to clients as appropriate.

As will be appreciated, when there are a large number of data objectsand types which are processed, the quantity of real-time data flowingfrom the information manager 30 to the client manager 32 can be verylarge. In order to reduce the quantity of data flow, and according to afurther aspect of the invention, the formatted data object streams 58typically contain differential offer data. In particular, when an objectis received by the information manager 30, the object pool 56 is queriedand, if an object having the same key is already present in the pool 56,the difference between the received object and the stored object isdetermined. Instead of broadcasting the complete formatted object to theclient manager 32, only the differences are transmitted. Thisdifferential data can be used by downstream processes to modify priorversions of the object stored by those processes to reflect the updatedinformation. The object stored in pool 56 is then updated to reflect thenewly received object. Typically, only a small portion of the objectdata, such as the price, changes at a given time. As a result, thequantity of differential data which is broadcast is substantiallysmaller than the total object data without data loss.

Various techniques known to those of skill in the art can be used todetermine the difference between a present and a prior data object. Theparticular method used is dependent on design and implementation issues.Such issues may include factors such as the format of database orstorage system supporting pool 56, the structure of the offers stored inthe pool, and the programming environment.

In the event that a received object is not present in the pool 56 but isinstead a new offer, the entire object is broadcast. Similarly, whenobjects are classified and broadcast on data streams related to datatype, if a received object has the same key as an object in the pool 56but is of a different type, information manager 30 preferably deletesthe old object in the pool 56 and stores the new object in accordancewith its different type. The full object data is then broadcast on thedata stream 58 appropriate for its new type. Also, a notice indicatingthe change in object type can be broadcast, particularly when thepresent stream is different from the stream which previously carriedinformation about that object.

As will be appreciated, downstream processes which may be receiving thedifferential broadcast channels 58, such as client managers 32, willgenerally maintain copies of the current state of the various objectsand update those copies in accordance with the differential data. In oneembodiment, when the information manager 30 receives a request from sucha process to subscribe to a data stream for a given object type, theinformation manager 30 can send a full copy of all objects of that typein the pool 56 (in their current state) to the subscriber. Thesubscriber can then store this “snapshot” of the objects of this typeand subsequently revise the objects in accordance with receiveddifferential data.

In a more preferred embodiment, the information manager 30 can broadcastthe various supported data streams without requiring specific knowledgeof which particular systems are receiving the broadcast. In such a case,the information manager 30 can include functionality which will respondto requests for a snapshot of the current state of a particular objector set of objects and return the requested data on an appropriate datachannel. This channel is preferably separate from the broadcast datachannels. Alternatively, a data link can be provided between the clientmanager 32 (or other subscriber) and the structured object pool 56 topermit the client manager 32 to autonomously retrieve snapshot data “ondemand”, perhaps via an intermediate database access object (not shown),thus freeing the real-time information manager 30 from having to servicesubscription requests. The design selection of whether the clientmanager 32 is given direct access to the contents of the object pool 56or accesses the object pool 56 via requests which are serviced by theinformation manager 30 or another module is dependant on systemimplementation details, such as the type of data links which can beestablished between the system elements, how tightly coupled the variouselements are, the number and frequency of concurrent databaseconnections which can be supported, and other factors which will beknown to those of skill in the art.

While the snapshot data can be broadcast to the subscriber on the objectdata streams, this may result in a slowdown of the overall broadcastchannel. Accordingly, the object type set snapshot is preferablytransmitted on a separate channel. During the transit time, updates tothe objects in the set may be received before the set has been fullyprocessed by the subscriber. In this situation, a subsequenttransmission can be sent to the subscriber. Alternatively, thesubscriber can queue up differential updates received during thesubscription process and apply them to the received snapshot data afterit is available.

Turning to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of a preferredarchitecture for real-time information manager 30. As shown, informationmanager comprises three primary modules—a translator 60, an offerprocessor 62, and an offer pool manager 64. The translator 60 receives araw data stream 14 and generates raw events 70 comprising name-valuepair sets. Preferably, the translator 60 is implemented as a Java class.Advantageously, this implementation substantially automates theextraction of the data attributes from the raw data stream andsimplifies the identification of new data object types. This informationcan then be used to define the rules used to identify the new types.

The raw event 70 is then passed to the offer processor 62. The offerprocessor uses the rules in the rule database 50 to identify or type theraw event. Once the event type is determined, the appropriatevalidation, filtering, and enrichment rules for that type of event areretrieved. The rules are used to select relevant data attributes fromthe raw event, validate the correct product type, construct a productlabel, and filter events which should not be forwarded. The offerprocessor 62 then generates an external or processed event 72 whichcontains the attributes specified by the rules along with a product typeidentifier and a unique key derived from the possibly non-unique key inthe raw data.

External events 72 are passed to the offer pool manager 64. The offerpool manager 64 is configured to automatically create a separateinstance of the product type in the pool 56 for each separate instanceof that particular type encountered in the raw data stream. The uniquekey derived from the raw data is used to link external events to offerinstances in the offer pool 56. The Offer Pool contains the currentstate of all product offerings that have been broadcast to clients. If anew event contains updated information, the offer pool manager 64identifies the change and, if the change is in a field used bydownstream processes, broadcasts the changes. If the product offering(as represented by the external event) does not exist in the offer pool56, the offer pool manager 64 adds the complete product offering to thepool 56 and also passes it in full to the to the client managers 32,either on the differential stream 58 or via a secondary data pathconfigured for larger data transfers (not shown).

To aid downstream services in detecting when they have missed adifferential update message, a sequence number is associated with eachoffer and subsequent update and the sequence number is broadcast withthat update. When a product instance is added to the offer pool 56 forthe first time it is assigned a sequence number of zero. Each time theinstance of the offer in the pool 56 is updated by the offer poolmanager 64 based on an external event, the sequence number isincremented by one. The sequence number is broadcast with differentialupdate messages and can be used by the client managers 32 to verify thatits local copy of the object is current. If a client manager 32 detectsthat the sequence number for an update message is not the next number inthe sequence for the locally stored version of the associated object,one or more update messages have been missed and the client manager canrequest a full set of product type attributes to refresh the productoffering image.

As discussed above, there are a variety of ways in which the rules foridentifying type of raw events and processing it to generate an externalevent can be implemented. In a preferred implementation, the objecttyping system data 66 is organized in a tree-format, a simplifiedillustration of which is shown in FIG. 4.

With reference to FIG. 4, a type tree 100 is provided which has a rootnode 102 to which at least one trans-type tree 103 is connected. Thetype tree 100 is a aggregation of all the type nodes and branchstructures defined in the underlying trans-type trees 103. Each leafnode in the type tree defines a separate type and each type has a treelike structure defining the types attributes. The branch structure tothe type nodes defines basis of information stream subscription and thecontent of the node defines the structure of the information stream.

More particularly, each trans-type tree 103 is associated with aspecific raw data input stream and is connected to the root node 102 byan identifying stream node 104. Connected to each stream node 104 are atleast one leaf node 106 which defines a specific type of object whichcan be carried on the respective data stream. The type leaf nodes 106have embedded attributes which define the rules which are used for bothtyping and validation of raw events. (The attributes could also beattached as sub-nodes descending from the type leaf node.) The typenodes 106 also define the content structure of the type respectiveobject type, such as filtering and enrichment rules used to generatecorresponding external events. One or more levels of intermediate pathnodes (not shown) can also be included between a stream node 104 and itstyping leaf nodes 106 to help in organizing the various types in astream. Although not required, intermediate nodes can also haveassociated typing rules used to distinguish the types of descendant leafnodes from other types in the stream.

Preferably the specific typing rules are in the form of logicalexpressions which can be applied to the name-value pairs present in araw event. These rules can be evaluated by traversing the nodes in theappropriate trans-type tree 103 and applying a suitable rule parsingengine. A “default” type can be applied for objects which do not matchany of the types defined in a trans-type tree 103. The presence of suchan unknown type can be used to trigger an alert message indicating thata new typing rule may need to be defined.

For example, the type tree 100 of FIG. 4 contains two trans-type trees,one associated with raw data stream X (as indicated by stream node X104) and the other associated with raw data stream Y. Stream X hastyping nodes for object types A and B which contain the rules foridentifying these types as well as various attributes for processing theraw event. Stream Y has typing nodes containing rules to identify andprocess raw events of types Q and R. Product types can be uniquelyidentified by referencing the names of the stream and type nodes, forexample type A products can be identified as product “X.A”.

With reference to FIG. 3, the illustrated raw event 70 contains severalname-value pairs, including “Descr=A”. If this event were present on rawdata stream X and node A defined a type according to the rule “Descr==A”then this raw event would be typed as product or offering type “X.A”.Validation rules can also be applied. For example, one rule can specifythat objects of type X.A must comply with the rule “Amt>0”. If a typeX.A object was received with Amt=0, for example, it would not beconsidered valid and appropriate action taken, such as blockingsubsequent broadcast of the event and notifying the data provider.Attributes and formatting rules associated with node A specify thecontent of the resulting external event 72 and the manner in which thedata is formatted. In this example, event 72 contains only the Descr,Amt, and Key name-value pairs. The values for “office” and “color” areomitted. The formatting rules also indicate the event is enriched by theaddition of the “Type=X.A” name-value pair such that downstreamprocesses do not need to redetermine the event type.

As will be appreciated, before a data stream can be processed by thesystem it must be declared to the typing system. In a preferredembodiment, the process of introducing the new stream is done through aspecialized type definition tool or application 76 (see FIG. 3) whichallows the streams to be defined, shaped and structured into types andallows typing and validation rules to be embedded, content and rulesyntax to be checked and the TypeTree to be constructed. The preferredtype-definition tool utilizes a graphical user interface which permitsthe user to indicate how incoming data will be interpreted via asoftware manipulation. In this way multiple data formats, wherein eachdata format relates to a distinct stream of raw data, can be receivedand processed.

Preferably, the translator 60 provides an output indicating the set ofdata-value pairs which are present in the various data objects containedin an input data stream and this output is provided to the typedefinition tool 76. The information provided by the translator 60 canthen be used by the type definition tool 76 to permit an operator toeasily identify and select from the various name-pairs from an undefinedobject in order to define an appropriate typing node with its associatedtyping and validation rules.

Advantageously, the present methods and system for a real-timeinformation manager provides a robust data system which is easilyscalable and customizable. A diagram showing such an embodiment andillustrating the flexibility and scalability of the present system isshown in FIG. 5 in which three client managers 32.1-32.3 are subscribedto various data stream broadcasts from two real-time informationmanagers 30.1, 30.2. The subscribed data connections can be direct dataconnections, via an intervening network, such as an intranet or theInternet, or by other means known to those of skill in the art. Multipleinstances of real-time information managers 30, running on the same ordifferent platforms can be implemented as required to service a largenumber of high-bandwidth data streams. The organized nature of theoutput data streams permits connected client managers 32 to selectivelyreceive data objects of a given type and the non-restrictive nature ofthe data broadcasts simplifies connecting multiple client managers 32 tothe system and adding new client managers 32 to add capacity to supportlarge number of clients.

Client Manager:

The Client Manager 32 (see FIG. 1) provides mechanism for mapping datastreams, such as real-time information streams provided by the real timeinformation manager 30, into customized, managed views of that data fora broad array of clients and devices. Acting as a local proxy forexternal sessions, the Client Manager 32 is configured to optimize thedelivery of data by forwarding only the content that is necessary for aconsistent view as subscribed by the client, at a rate that the remoteconnection and device can successfully support. In particular, theclient manager 32 is configured to support three primary functions: (1)the creation and management of client sessions and their associatedprofiles, including references, permissions, views, subscriptions, andfilters; (2) subscribe or connect on demand to content streams publishedby one or more real-time information management processors 30 andmaintain a current state offer pool cache for the various offers on eachsubscribed stream, which pool is then used when delivering data to theset of subscribed client sessions; and (3) coordinate the delivery ofsubscribed content and associated real-time updates to various clientsas appropriate.

The client manager 32 architecture can be used with multiple datasources. Preferably, however, the client manager receives differentialdata streams generated by the real time information manager 30 and hasat least limited access to data stored at the information manager 30.

A client 18 can connect to the client manager 32 using a suitablenetwork protocol, such as a Transmission Control Protocol/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) socket. Preferably, clients connecting across theInternet via HTTP pass through the Enhanced Information Delivery HTTPtunneling transport layer 38 which provides a transparent protocolbridge between HTTP and the proxy socket protocol implemented in theclient manager. The client manager 32 itself is generally unconcernedwith how a session communication is maintained, such as on a localIntranet via a direct socket, or over the Internet via HTTP.

Turning to FIG. 6, there is shown a preferred architecture of the clientmanager 32. The client manager 32 is comprised of a client sessionmanager 150, at least one object state manager 152, and at least oneclient session 154. The client session manager 150 is configured tocreate and manage client sessions and associated client profiles 158.Upon first connecting to the client manager 32, a client will typicallyidentify itself using a unique profile key (e.g. a user name). Theclient session manager 150 will either load a previously saved profilematching this key from a client profile repository 158, or create a new,empty profile for a new client to begin using. The client profile can beused to store a variety of data related to the object types or datastreams which a particular client has subscribed as specific rules andfilters to act on objects in a stream, referred generally andinterchangeably to as object filtering rules, object evaluation rules,or just object rules. The profile is used to configure the operation ofa client session 154 which is responsible for maintaining thecommunication link between the client 18 and the client manager 32 andalso responsible for sending data objects and object updates to theclient in accordance with the subscription selections and other profiledata.

One or more object state managers 152 are configured to maintain acurrent state of objects in streams to which a client is subscribed andindicate when an object has changed state. The manner in which statechanges are detected is dependent, at least in part, upon the format ofthe input data streams and whether it contains differential data events(as preferred), complete data sets, or intermediate formats.

In response to a state change in an object from a stream to which aclient has subscribed, the client session 154 evaluates the change todetermine if it is of a type which should be forwarded to the client.Preferably, evaluation rules, such as soft coded filters and customprogrammed business logic, are maintained in the client's profile. Ifthe filtering and evaluation rules indicate that the object is to bepassed to the client, a suitable update action is passed to a deliverymanager 156 where it is queued, if needed, and subsequently pushed tothe client.

A variety of delivery techniques are available. Preferably, each clienthas its own dedicated delivery manager 156 which will maintain therespective client event queue 165 and push update events to the clientat a suitable rate, adjusting the rate as needed to compensate for,e.g., available bandwidth, network delays, and client response time. Asa result, the delivery of real-time data is optimized by forwarding onlythe content that is necessary for a consistent view of the object poolas subscribed by the client, at a rate that the remote connection anddevice can successfully support.

As discussed above, the object state manager 152 is configured toreceive object content data from an upstream source, preferably the realtime information manager 30, and to maintain a copy of the current stateof all objects carried by the stream, e.g., in an offer pool cache 160.In addition, the object state manager 152 is further configured todetect changes to objects in the offer pool cache 160 and publish eventsor notifications which indicate that clients monitoring this object (orobject type) may require updating so that the appropriate client session154 can take action.

When a client session 154 is established for a client, the clientsession manager 150 ensures that an object state manager 152 isconnected to the data streams to which the client has subscribed, e.g.,as reflected in the client profile. The client manager 32 subscribes tostreams on demand in accordance with an aggregation of subscriptions inthe client profiles in each active client session. When a client sessionrequires access to a content stream which is not currently beingmonitored, the client session manager 150 initiates a subscription tothat stream by an appropriate object state manager 152.

When a new content stream subscription is initiated, the object statemanager 152 issues a request to retrieve the initial stream state fromthe repository/database at the stream's source and uses this informationto initialize the respective offer pool cache 160. The object statemanager 152 also establishes an appropriate communication link toreceive the data on the content stream 58 and begins to monitor thestate of the objects on the incoming stream. Preferably, the contentstream subscribed to by the client manager consists of a sequence ofevents.

A snapshot of object states is initially delivered or otherwise obtainedand changes to the states, such as adds, deletes, and updates, aresubsequently received. Changes to objects in the stream are published tothe client sessions that have registered interest. Preferably streams towhich no interest has been registered for a predetermined period oftime, such as 2 to 3 days, are purged.

Although a single object state manager 152 and associated offer poolcache 160 can be established to monitor and maintain the status ofobjects on all subscribed streams, preferably multiple object statemanagers 152 are supported, wherein each monitors a single respectiveinput stream. Similarly, each client preferably has its own dedicatedclient session and associated delivery manager. As a result, the clientmanager 32 can have multiple client sessions and multiple object statemanagers all operating concurrently. Such a multi-threaded environmentis illustrated in FIG. 7. As will be appreciated, the number ofconcurrent object state managers 152 and client sessions 154 is limitedonly by the speed and resources of the hosting machine. Multiple ClientManager processes can be run across a farm of machines to support ahighly scaleable environment supporting potentially any number ofclients.

Turning to FIG. 8, there is shown a preferred implementation of theobject state manager 152. Each object state manager 152 has anassociated object event cache 160 and a table 164 which indicates thoseprocesses which should receive notice of changes to objects carried bythe monitored stream. Generally, such processes are the various clientsessions. However, events can be issued to other processes as well.

When a first request is made to subscribe to a data stream, the clientsession manager 150 starts an instance of an object state manager 152 tomonitor that stream. Clients are preferably given information whichindicates all streams to which they can subscribe (subject to usageconstraints, e.g., as per information in the client profile orelsewhere). This information can easily be determined by the clientsession manager 150 by extracting the type leaf nodes from the typingtree data present on connected real-time managers 30. (See FIGS. 3-4).Copies 66′ of the typing trees 66 can be maintained at the clientmanager 32 to simplify access to this data.

When an object state manager 152 is first started, a snapshot of thecurrent state of the objects carried on the data stream to be monitoredis obtained and used to initialize the respective object cache 160. Toaid in this process, a state dispatch module 170 is provided tocoordinate access by the various object state managers 152.1-152.N to anobject data source database, such as the offer pool 56 maintained by thereal-time information manager 30.

Upon receiving a request from an object state manager 152, the statedispatch module 170 obtains the appropriate object data from the offerpool 56 in the respective real-time information manager 30. This data isthen used to initialize the object cache 160 for the requesting objectstate manager 152 and the object state manager is informed of theresult. A state request queue 172 can be provided to permit multiplerequests to be issued to the state dispatch module 170, each of whichcan be processed in turn as resources become available.

A variety of techniques can be employed to obtain object data from theoffer pool 56. In a preferred implementation, the offer pool 56 isimplemented in a manner which permits direct access to the stored objectdata by the state dispatch module. Other techniques for retrieving theobject data can also be used, the suitability of which depends upon theavailable communication channels and database technology used inimplementing the system.

In order to provide for reasonable throughput while also limiting thenumber of concurrent accesses by the state dispatch module 170,preferably a data access thread pool is provided (not shown), whereineach thread in the pool is configured to service a data request by anobject state manager. As a thread becomes available, it processes thenext request on the request queue 172.

After the object cache 160 is initialized, the object state manager 152begins monitoring the respective data stream. Incoming data ispreferably in differential form and, upon receiving a data object on thestream, the unique object key is used to update the corresponding objectin the object cache 160 as indicated. (For non-differential data, theobject state manager can further include functionality to determine if areceived object differs from a cached version and then possiblydetermine if the type of change is one which requires subsequentaction). When an object update is detected, such as when a differentialobject is received on the stream, an object event is issued and directedto all subscribing clients as indicated in the subscriber list 164. Thepurpose of the object event is to inform the various client sessionsthat some sort of change has occurred with regard to a specific dataobject so that a determination can be made whether to forward thischange to the client. The object event can contain the entire objectitself, a pointer to the object (e.g., in the offer pool cache), arepresentation of what aspects of the object have changed, or a pointerto this information.

An update queue 162 can further be provided for each object statemanager 152 to temporarily store objects received on the stream untilthey can be acted upon. Preferably, the update queue 162 is also used tostore objects received on the data stream during the period betweenrequesting a snapshot of the offer pool and subsequent cacheinitialization. After the cache is initialized, the contents of thequeue are applied to the cache.

Generally, a stream will only be monitored when a client sessionsubscribed to that stream is active (or for limited period of time aftera state when no clients are subscribing is entered). However, there maybe circumstances when it would be advantageous to continually monitorone or more selected streams, even in the absence of subscribingclients, in order to be able to more quickly provide the object stateinformation to a client.

Turning to FIG. 9, there is shown a block diagram illustrating theclient session 154 and a preferred implementation of the deliverymanager 156 of FIG. 6 and further showing a high-level view of thesystem residing on the client 18. Prior to a further discussion of theoperation of the client session 154 and delivery manager 156, it isbeneficial to briefly discuss the architecture and operation of apreferred embodiment of the client system 18.

In a preferred embodiment, the software 190 operating on the client 18maintains a copy of the current state of the various objects of interestto the client in the data streams to which the client has subscribed.The object state is preferably contained in a subscribed stream objectpool 194 present on the client system. Similar to the operation of theobject state manager 152, when a client first subscribes to a datastream, a snapshot of the objects in that data stream is retrieved,constrained by any filters, rules, or other logic which may be in place,delivered to the client 18, and stored in the client's object pool 194.In a preferred implementation, the state dispatch module 170 (see FIG.8) is configured to process such data requests from the client sessionmanager 150 or from the various client sessions 154. Because all datastreams which have at least one subscribing client should have anassociated object state manager 152 which maintains the current state ofobjects in the stream, the state dispatch module 170 can retrieve therequested information directly from the various object caches 160 andreturn the data to the client via the client session manager 150 and/orthe dedicated client session 154. Once the initial object snapshots havebeen retrieved, the client software 190 then modifies the objects andassociated data in accordance with events received at the client fromthe client manager 32.

A variety of techniques can be used to organize the objects on theclient system and to specify (in the user's profile) which objects areto be delivered to a given client, how they are to be organized andviewed by the client, as well as other functionality. A client's userprofile will generally specify the data stream subscriptions and definepreferences regarding how the objects in those streams are filtered,manipulated, and displayed on the client system 18. Preferably, thisinformation is organized according to a folder paradigm in which theclient profile includes one or more folders, each of which comprises aset of attributes that describe the folder's data content, how tomanipulate it, and how to visually represent it.

In a most preferred embodiment, the folder contains the followingattributes:

(a) Configuration & Initialization data which defines Java classes thatrepresent the folder on both the client and server side and can furtherdefine an optional parent relationship for inheritance of attributes.

(b) Subscriptions to one or more content streams from which the folderwill receive real-time data.

(c) Content constraints and/or filters which constrain and filter theobjects from the data stream according to, e.g., type, name, applicationof logical rules specified in a suitable rules based language.

(d) Permissions which restriction user access to a folder or specificfolder related functionality (e.g. on-line trading).

(d) Display attributes, such as formatting rules which specify how thedata should be displayed, sorting rules indicating an order of display,and various miscellaneous visual characteristics including font, size,and color.

Preferably, the defining attributes of the various client folders aresaved as part of the client profile 158 at the client manager 32 so asto persist across multiple sessions for a given client concurrently orover time. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9, the client manager 32 will havefolder images 180 which generally correspond to the various folders 192defined by the client. It should be noted that the images 180 need notbe exact duplicates of the client folders 192 and either set may containadditional data as appropriate for the implementation conditions.Broadly, the client-side functionality is directed to presentation anddisplay of various objects and data while the client-managerfunctionality is directed to evaluation data and rules used to determinewhat data should be provided to the client. As a result, while theclient-side folder 192 can contain copies of the current filters andconstraints in effect at the client so that the client can view, edit,and create new rules, such rules are typically not executed by theclient. Therefore, the form in which they are stored and presented atthe client can differ from the executable version present in theclient-manager version 180.

When a client “opens” a folder 192, the client software 190 acts on thesubscriptions and filters which define the folder and its contents andcreates a display of discrete content items, extracting specific objectdata from the object pool 194. Although the object data can beconsidered as being contained in the user's folder, the same object mayappear in multiple folders, possibly displayed in different ways orunder different conditions. Preferably, the objects contained in a givenfolder are identified in accordance with the object key, which key canthen be used to retrieve the actual object data from the object pool 194as necessary when that object is displayed

In addition to various organizational and display specifications, theuser profile or folders can contain defined rules which placesconstraints and filters that define which objects in a subscribed datastream are passed to the client and under what conditions, and how andwhere the objects should be displayed. For example, a client subscribingto a stream which contained all stocks listed on the American StockExchange (“AMEX”) can define a filter to specified that only objectsrelating to stocks in a particular category, such as “technologycompanies” be delivered. The client can further define a set ofconstraints which specify, for example, that an object should bedisplayed in a first folder when its trading volume is above a specifiedamount and only appear in a second folder when its price has changed bymore than a specified amount in a given time period. Rules can bedescribed using a rule-based language, by selecting predefined sets, orby other means known to those of skill in the art.

In a preferred implementation, more sophisticated processing of objectevents is provided by allowing client manager folder plug-ins to bedeveloped and deployed within the client manager. Plug-in class objectsin the client profile can implement specialized logic and filtering onthe subscribed content streams and associated events before they arepushed downstream to the client in accordance with conditions or stateswhich are not easily represented using simplified rule languages. On theclient-side application, a corresponding subclass can be provided toimplement any specialization with regard to data manipulation and visualrepresentation of the subscribed streams.

Advantageously, the server-side folder plug-in, and the client-sideplug-in can work in tandem to provide the user with a broad range ofbusiness specific presentation and functionality. For example, a plug-incan be defined for an “Approved Issuer List in Money Market Trading” andwhich includes special business logic to remove any information that isnot associated with a user-defined list of issuers. Similarly, a plug-incan be employed to allow a user to build folders with specific treasurysecurities of interest.

When an object event is received by the client session 154, the clientsession executes the various rules and plug-ins which apply to the datastream associated with the object, e.g., by identifying the clientfolders which contain subscriptions to the associated data stream andthen executing the relevant rules contained in those folders. Theexecuted rules will generally produce a set of potential responses,including state events which specify if the object should be added to,deleted from, or updated in the client's subscribed object pool 194 andfolder events which specify whether, for example, the object should beadded to or removed from a specific folder. (Executing rules can alsoindicate that no action need be taken).

The client session then aggregates and combines the various eventsgenerated by the rule execution to produce a state change event forobject, if needed, along with a series of related folder actions tied toindividual folders and associated with the state event. For example, anobject event indicating that the price of a specific object hasincreased could result in an update event for the object, an add eventfor one folder, and a delete event for a second folder. The aggregatedevents are then sent to the delivery manager 156, preferably combinedinto a single encapsulated event object having an associated ID whichindicates the data object to which it relates.

In its simplest form, the delivery manager 156 comprises a client eventqueue 165 into which a received object is placed and a push thread 184which is configured to extract objects from the event queue 165 anddeliver the related data to the client 18. Preferably, however, thedelivery manager 156 includes a queue manager 182 which is configured toaggregate events in the queue which relate to the same object and thepush module 184 is configured to vary the rate at which data isdelivered to the client in response to measurements of the round-tripnetwork travel time and the time it takes the client to respond.

In the preferred implementation, when the queue manager 182 receives anevent, it determines whether there is an event already present in thequeue related to the object associated with the newly received event. Ifso, a process is initiated whereby the queued and newly received events(in the aggregate event object) are analyzed to combine or eliminateevents and thereby reduce the amount of data which is ultimatelydelivered to the client. This functionality can be implemented wholly inthe queue manager 182. Preferably, however, received event objectscontain embedded functions which encompass a basic set of aggregationand combination rules for folder and state events. These functions tellthe event objects how to aggregate with other events in the queue thatrelate to the same data object.

Upon receiving an event, such as an aggregated event comprising a stateevent and possibly one or more folder events, the queue manager 182first performs a state event aggregation, e.g., by running the stateaggregation function in the received state event, if present. Folderevent aggregation functionality can then be executed as appropriate.

There are three primary conditions which can occur when a state event isreceived (other than when there is no previously queued event for thecorresponding object). One condition is where an object update event isreceived and an update or add event is already queued for the sameobject. When this situation occurs, the data changes reflected in thereceived update event are applied to the data in the already queuedobject update or add event. Folder events associated with the new updateevent are combined with those associated with the queued event toupdate, add, or remove folder events as appropriate. The received updateevent, after being integrated with the pending events, can then bediscarded.

A second condition is when an object delete event is received and anupdate or add event is already queued for the same object. In thissituation, the new delete event effectively nullifies the prior queuedupdate or add event. The queued state event and any related folder addevents are removed from the queue and the delete event is placed in thequeue.

A third condition is when an object add event is received and a deleteevent for that object is already queued. Because the delete event hasnot yet been sent to the client, the object still exists in the clientsobject pool and adding the object on the client can result in conflictswith the data already present. Accordingly, the add event is convertedinto an “update” event which contains the data attributes for the dataobject specified in the add event.

Advantageously, by continually executing aggregation procedures of thistype on a pending event queue, duplicate data and unnecessary datatransmissions are culled from the queue. This reduces the total amountof data which must be sent to the client while still ensuring that whendata is received at the client, it reflects the current object state.Further, the aggregation scheme also limits the total length of thequeue since, in a worst case scenario, there will be at most one queuedstate event for each current object type.

Events transmitted to a client generally represent the same object dataas the events generated by the client session and queued by the deliverymanager (such as add, change, or delete indications for a given object),and thus are referred to herein by similar designations for convenience.While events broadcast to a client are derived from events received at aclient session and/or delivery manager, the format and configuration ofevents broadcast to a client can differ from internal events. Forexample, secondary aspects of the events received by the deliverymanager, such as aggregation functionality, need not be forwarded to theclient. Similarly, the client must receive the actual data changes forthe event while an internal event can contain a pointer to data storedelsewhere. The derivation of a client event from a state event can occurat any appropriate point, such as when the event is placed in the clientevent queue or when it is removed from the queue and prepared fortransmission. In addition, a “derived” client event can be the same asthe source state event if appropriate for the particular implementation.

In addition to aggregating client events, the rate at which events aredelivered to a client from the delivery manager 156 is preferablyoptimized to reflect network and response delays. Clients connected tothe client manager 32 can have widely differing capabilities withregards to remote machine resources (e.g., CPU and memory), networkbandwidth, and latency. A client could potentially be running on a highpowered workstation with a huge network pipe, or a handheld device witha slow wireless connection. Without requiring knowledge of the specificsof the device and network available to a client session, data metricsare be continually gathered and monitored by the client session 154 andused to determine suitable delivery constraints.

Metrics specific to the available client resources are collecteddynamically for the life of each client session. Because theoptimization is on a per-client basis, the system can support widelyvarying delivery requirements for the many different devices andconnectivity options and does not require that the client specify theirconnection bandwidth or hardware capabilities.

In a specific implementation, the network travel time and client eventprocessing speed are measured. The delivery manager 156 can measure thenetwork travel time using a variety of techniques, such as measuring thedelay between when data is pushed to the client and an HTTP acknowledgeis received indicating that the data has arrived. Alternatively, theclient session 154 can periodically issue a test message to the clientand measure the period of time before a response from the client isreceived. To determine the amount of time it takes for an event to befully realized by the client (e.g. an update event shown on the user'sscreen), a performance monitor 196 can be implemented on the client 18which monitors the client performance and periodically or on requestforwards the performance data to the client session 154.

The performance data is analyzed to determine a cycle period based onthe network travel time, and the theoretical maximum number of eventsthe client can successfully handle during this cycle period (based onthe event processing speed). These constraints will then be applied tothe push thread which adjusts the rate of transmission and number ofoutstanding data messages accordingly. Over time, the metrics can changeand the constraints are adjusted accordingly.

Because each client has a dedicated delivery manager thread 156executing in the client manager 32 which examines these metrics anddynamically adjusts the flow of events downstream, efficient deliverygiven the resources available to the client can be consistentlyachieved. Advantageously, this adaptive data streaming works inconjunction with event aggregation processes to ensure that events arenot delivered too quickly downstream for the client to process whilealso ensuring that events which are delivered reflect the current stateof the object. As a result, while the time period between data updatesat the client can vary, when an update is received, the effectivereal-time status of the data (at the time of the update) is maintained.

Client System:

The client system 18 can be structured in a variety of ways. In apreferred embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 10, the client systempreferably is comprised of three layers of functionality: communications200, context 202, and folders 204. The communications layer 200 isconfigured to manage the connection between the client 18 and the clientmanager 32. In a particular implementation, communication is achievedusing either HTTP Tunneling Transport (for Internet connections) orsockets (for intranet connections).

The context layer 202 is configured to send and receive events andmessages to and from the Client Manager 32. The context functions as thecentral distribution point of events and messages to the folder layer204. The folders layer 204 comprises logical groupings of informationand discrete sets of related content within an information stream. Asdiscussed above with respect to the client folders 192 shown in FIG. 9,A folder represents subscriptions to one or more information streams,where each subscription maps to one of the streams typed and publishedby the Real-time Information Manager 30 and made available through theClient Manager 32. Subscriptions and filters define the specific contentof a folder.

Preferably, the client output is rendered in a graphical column-and-row(spreadsheet) format. However, alternative formats can also employed asappropriate. For example, a process could use a client API to establisha server process within a network, subscribing to content and takingrequests on the server side and render content as HTML pages. The pointis that the client should be rendered in a form that is appropriate tosupport of the host services and information streams. Advantageously,the client manager 32 is generally unconcerned with the manner in whicha client acts on received object data and, as result, a wide variety ofclient formats can be implemented and supported by the presentmethodology.

HTTP Tunneling Transport:

Various communication techniques, interfaces, and protocols can be usedto connect a client manager 32 with a client. In a preferredimplementation, and as shown in, e.g., FIG. 1, an HTTP tunnelingtransport layer 38 is provided to support a virtual persistentconnection using the HTTP tunneling transport. When a client issues avalid request for access to the system, a unique secure session key isassigned and used to bind the client to a particular service for thelife of its session.

The initial HTTP request channel can be held open and becomes the ‘push’or ‘publish’ channel (thus appearing to all hops in the connection'spath as a potentially very long HTTP response). Since this connectionstays open, it can be used as a path to publish content in real-time tothe client. To do this efficiently and reliably for a given stream, eachevent from the service is preferably sequenced, queued, encoded,transmitted, and stored (in case a retransmission is required due toconnectivity problems).

Heartbeat messages can also be sent to the client on at periodicintervals to ensure that the given channel remains valid. If a problemis detected, transmission of events can be suspended and the clientgiven a period of time to re-establish connectivity to the session,recover, and resume normal operation. If a pattern of disconnectionsemerges (as for example, may occur when a client's firewall proxy limitsconnections to no more 3 minutes), the timing parameters for theclient's session are adjusted in an attempt to avoid problems in thefuture, e.g., by closing a current channel and opening a new one beforeinterference by the firewall. In particular, given dynamic timingparameters, the system can proactively request that the clientperiodically cycle the existing ‘push’ channel to a new HTTPconnection—to avoid any problems before they could happen. The clientand transport system 38 preferably carry out this process asynchronouslyand transparently, so as not to disturb the consistent flow of real-timedata to the end-user.

Conclusion

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, various changes inform and details can be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. In particular, while the preferred embodiment of theinvention is directed to processing and distributing data related tofinancial offerings, the present method and system can also be used topermit real-time distribution of data objects directed to differentsubject matter, such as distributed inventory systems, network-basedauction systems, remote data monitoring, etc.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for processing raw data streamscarrying a plurality of raw data objects containing information which issubject to periodic updates, the method comprising the steps of:receiving a raw data object carried on a raw data stream input;processing the received raw data object to determine an object type ofthe raw data object; generating a formatted data object based oncontents of the raw data object by applying a set of formatting rules;receiving a request from a client manager for a snapshot of a currentstate of the formatted data object; transmitting the snapshot to theclient manager on a channel; determining whether a prior version of theformatted data object is present in an object storage pool; upondetermining that a prior version is present in the object storage pool:determining a data differential between the formatted data object andthe prior version; updating the prior version of the formatted dataobject to correspond with the formatted data object; and broadcastingthe data differential on an output broadcast data channel, the datadifferential including differential pricing data, wherein the outputbroadcast data channel transmitting the data differential is separatefrom the channel transmitting the snapshot; wherein the client manager: receives the data differential;  uses a unique profile key to load aprofile of a subscriber associated with the unique profile key, theprofile including subscription selections; and  sends the datadifferential to the subscriber according to the subscription selectionsin the profile; otherwise, upon determining that no prior version ispresent in the object storage pool: providing the formatted data objectto subscriber processes; and storing the formatted data object in theobject storage pool.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatteddata object stored in the object storage pool has an associated sequencenumber, wherein the step of updating includes incrementing the sequencenumber of the formatted data object, and wherein broadcasting the datadifferential includes broadcasting the sequence number associated withthe formatted data object.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofproviding the formatted data object comprises broadcasting the formatteddata object on the output broadcast channel.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the broadcast channel is selected from a plurality of broadcastchannels according to the object type.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe applied formatting rules are selected in accordance with thedetermined object type.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtranslating the raw data object into a raw event comprising at least onename-value pair prior to determining an object type of the raw dataobject and generating a formatted data object.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising the steps of: validating the contents of the raw dataobject; and upon a failed validation, preventing subsequent broadcast ofthe data differential or formatted data object derived from therespective raw data object.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a particular formatted data object at a subscriberprocess; storing the received formatted data object in a databaseassociated with the subscriber process; receiving at the subscriberprocess a data differential for the particular formatted object via thebroadcast data channel; and updating the stored formatted data object inaccordance with the received data differential.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the broadcast data channel is received by a plurality ofsubscriber processes.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein each of thesubscriber processes receives a plurality of broadcast channels.
 11. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising communicating information aboutthe formatted data object stored in the database associated with thesubscriber process to a remote location.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the raw data object comprises information related to a financialproduct offering.
 13. A system for processing information comprising: atleast one computer processor; an information manager, using the at leastone computer processor, configured to: receive a raw data object carriedon a raw data stream input, process the received raw data object todetermine an object type of the raw data object, generate a formatteddata object based on contents of the raw data object by applying a setof formatting rules, receive a request from a client manager for asnapshot of a current state of the formatted data object, transmit thesnapshot to the client manager on a channel, determine whether a priorversion of the formatted data object is present in an object storagepool, upon determining that a prior version is present in the objectstorage pool: determine a data differential between the formatted dataobject and the prior version, update the prior version of the formatteddata object to correspond with the formatted data object, and broadcastthe data differential on an output broadcast data channel, the datadifferential including differential pricing data, wherein the outputbroadcast data channel transmitting the data differential is separatefrom the channel transmitting the snapshot, upon determining that noprior version is present in the object storage pool: provide theformatted data object to subscriber processes, and store the formatteddata object in the object storage pool; and the client managerconfigured to: receive the data differential, use a unique profile keyto load a profile of a subscriber associated with the unique profilekey, the profile including subscription selections, and send the datadifferential to the subscriber according to the subscription selectionsin the profile.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the formatted dataobject stored in the object storage pool has an associated sequencenumber, wherein the information manager is further configured to:increment the sequence number of the formatted data object, andbroadcast the sequence number associated with the formatted data object.15. The system of claim 13, wherein the information manager is furtherconfigured to broadcast the formatted data object on the outputbroadcast channel.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the broadcastchannel is selected from a plurality of broadcast channels according tothe object type.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the appliedformatting rules are selected in accordance with the determined objecttype.
 18. The system of claim 13, wherein the information manager isfurther configured to translate the raw data object into a raw eventcomprising at least one name-value pair prior to determining an objecttype of the raw data object and generating a formatted data object. 19.The system of claim 13, wherein the information manager is furtherconfigured to: validate the contents of the raw data object, and upon afailed validation, prevent subsequent broadcast of the data differentialor formatted data object derived from the respective raw data object.20. The system of claim 13, wherein the raw data object comprisesinformation related to a financial product offering.